A64 questions?

are these new chips really worth the money? i realize they will be taking over the market soon but is it that much better in overall performance? anyone know any performance specs on the fx-53 compared to the other A64's? i'm running a 2500 mobile @ 2.5. is it really needed for me to upgrade to the new tech? feel free to express your own views and opinions

I love my A64. It sure benches much, much higher than my T-Bred at 2.6GHz did. It "feels" faster in games and in everyday tasks, although this is partly due to the fact that I've got faster hard drives this time. The A64 is worth every penny, but it may not be the best choice for everyone. For anyone with a nicely overclocked P4 or AXP setup (like yours), it might be a better idea to wait until bigger changes come along.

There are currently two flavors of the FX-53. One uses socket-940 and registered DIMMs, the other, socket-939 and regular memory. Both perform quite similar to one another, and in many taks, just about the same as a normal A64. I tend to believe that the added dual channel memory controller doesn't do much for the tasks that many of us perform. It shows up mainly in highly math intensive ones. The socket 939 Newcastles promise to be cheaper and deliver similar levels of perfomance.

These links shows some benchmark analysis of a A64 FX-53, A64 3200+, A64 3000+, a Barton and some P4's.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2766934#post2766934
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2762781#post2762781

Roughly speaking, when clocking at the same frequencies of CPU, FSB, HT, memory, IMO
the top line FX-53 (which 939 would resemble) is better than a barton by about 20-30% (average over a range of progarms, should look at the detailed breakdown as listed in the links).

a A64 754 with 1 MB L2 would be close to the FX-53 except for memory bandwidth and memory intensive programs.

a A64 754 with 512 KB L2 would be 2-10% worse than that w/ 1 MB L2.


This link have some more info about motherboards, chipsets, CPU, various multiplier setting, CPU model numbers, benchmark analysis, ...
A64 CPUs, chipsets, motherboards

are the A64s unlocked or locked? sorry for the noob questions but i have info on these new chips at all...

thx hitech

nocturnal714 said:

are the A64s unlocked or locked? sorry for the noob questions but i have info on these new chips at all...

Click to expand...

Everything but the FXen are locked.

From what I heard, the FX are unlocked.

But the A64 754 are unlocked up to the default stock multiplier.

E.g. for a 3200+, default multiplier is x10, so it is unlocked for x10, x9, x8, .... This is good since one can still overclocking the FSB which is related to the HT bus, memory bus via their respective multipliers.

nice

This is a quote from another thread, add it here for completeness.

Here assuming limiting the choice to 754 (939 not out yet):

There have been reviews of some 754 motherboards with Nforce3 250 GB (with GB), hope should be on the street very soon.

The MSI K8N Neo is one that has received good reviews and it has x5 multiplier for the HT bus.
Other good motherboards may be coming soon, if can wait a little bit more.

I think for good price performance,
- a 754 2800+ with CG rev, 512 KB L2, NewCastle core (CPU model AX), under $180 (?), target overclock to 2.5 GHz+
- or a 754 3000+ (other as the 2800+) which has x10 multiplier for overclocking
- a 754 motherboard w/ 250 GB with 5X HT setting, such as one above or better ones
- SLK-948 (or wait for the heat pipe version)
- 2 x 512 MB memory
(IMO, this combo is coming to a point that it is considered a better choice than a Nforce2 w/ mobile Barton for a NEW build, even considering price).


For around $100 more
- a 754 3200+ with CG rev, 1 MB L2, DTR (CPU model AR)
- other same as above
- would get above 2 - 10% better average performance, in game, ....

If can wait, there is always the 939 to wait for, ...


This link have some more info about motherboards, chipsets, CPU, various multiplier setting, CPU model numbers, benchmark analysis, ...

A64 CPUs, chipsets, motherboards

Bravo, bravissimo! Excellent work Hitech.

:applauds:

great work, you make it sound so tempting...

Captain Newbie said:

Bravo, bravissimo! Excellent work Hitech.

:applauds:

Click to expand...

Thanks.

After some hard works during the last few days, sorting through lots of informations about the A64,
at least I feel comfortable to come to a conclusion that

"IMO, this combo is coming to a point that it is considered a better choice than a Nforce2 w/ mobile Barton for a NEW build, even considering price".

The 754 512 KB L2 A64 + 250 GB motherboard are now less than $100 compared to a Nforce2 + mobile Barton when builiding a NEW system with the A64 technologies + 15-25% average gain over a Barton (at same frequencies).

The 754 1 MB L2 one would be 20-30% averaged better in performance than a Nforce2 + Barton.

Of course, this does not rule out spending a bit or more for the larger cache version or the 939, but this is beyond the scope of the current discussion.

Are there any estimates on how expensive are the new 939's? I dont wanna wait if they are going to be suppa expensive.

My guess is that the first 939 Newcastles will come out with PR ratings of 3300+ and 3500+ (2.0GHz and 2.2GHz), and will probably cost around $350 for the 3300+ and about $500 for the 3500+. Just a complete guess, I could be totally wrong, but this is what I'm lead to believe given everything I've seen and read thus far. In any case, I'd be extremely surprised if you'd be able to get them for any less than $300 at their initial release.